The Kawasaki KAQ-1 was a small,

radio controlled Radio control (often abbreviated to RC) is the use of control signals transmitted by radio to remotely control a device. Examples of simple radio control systems are garage door openers and keyless entry systems for vehicles, in which a sma ...

target drone A target drone is an unmanned aerial vehicle, generally remote controlled, usually used in the training of anti-aircraft crews. One of the earliest drones was the British DH.82 Queen Bee, a variant of the Tiger Moth trainer aircraft operationa ...

aircraft manufactured by the

Kawasaki Aerospace Company is the Aerospace manufacturer, aerospace division of Kawasaki Heavy Industries (KHI). It produces aircraft, spacecraft systems, space systems, Flight simulator, simulators, jet engines, missiles, and electronic equipment. During the 1930s and 1 ...

which was used by the armed forces of

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

and the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

to train fighter pilots and

anti-aircraft Anti-aircraft warfare, counter-air or air defence forces is the battlespace response to aerial warfare, defined by NATO as "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It includes surface based, ...

gunners.

Purpose

The main purpose of the KAQ-1 drone was to train fighter pilots in the use of

air-to-air missiles file:Python5-missile001.jpg, The newest and the oldest member of Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, Rafael's Python (missile), Python family of AAM for comparisons, Python-5 (displayed lower-front) and Shafrir-1 (upper-back) An air-to-air miss ...

and to train

gunners on the ground. Alongside this the KAQ-1 was also used as a target in the testing of new weapon systems. The drone was used in this role throughout the 1950s by the armed forces of both

and the

. When in US service, the KAQ-1 was mainly used by those units stationed in Japan.

Operational Use

In operation the KAQ-1 was launched from a ramp where after it was guided to a predetermined altitude and was them fired upon. If destroyed, a

parachute A parachute is a device used to slow the motion of an object through an atmosphere by creating drag or, in a ram-air parachute, aerodynamic lift. A major application is to support people, for recreation or as a safety device for aviators, who ...

rigged to the engine mounts would allow the drone's engine to be recovered and reused. When the KAQ-1 is not destroyed in operation, it is recovered via a parachute which is triggered by the drone operator or when the minimum allowable flight altitude is reached.

Operators

* :

Japan Ground Self Defense Force The Japan Ground Self-Defense Force ( ja, 陸上自衛隊, Rikujō Jieitai), , also referred to as the Japanese Army, is the land warfare branch of the Japan Self-Defense Forces. Created on July 1, 1954, it is the largest of the three service b ...

* :

United States Armed Forces The United States Armed Forces are the military forces of the United States. The armed forces consists of six service branches: the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, and Coast Guard. The president of the United States is the ...

Specifications (KAQ-1)

References

External links

Castle Air Museum website
Unmanned military aircraft of Japan KAQ-1 Japan Ground Self-Defense Force Japan Air Self-Defense Force {{UAV-stub